The thin line
by xStormborn
Summary: St. Louis - hospital for the mentally and criminally insane - didn't heal anyone. They realized this the hardest way. Asylum AU, rated M for future chapters. No pairings.
1. Prologue

**A/N: I didn't expect this to be ready so soon, but I had one of my muse strikes today so I finished the prologue. Anyways, here's the rather short prologue, but it felt like it would turn into epic failure if I extended it. I'm starting with the useless blabbering, so... Enjoy if it's possible! Reviews are much appreciated! I DON'T OWN KATEKYO HITMAN REBORN! OR AMERICAN HORROR STORY. **

* * *

_Prologue_

St Louis didn't make you normal and sane again, Fran decided in one of his rare sober moments. It didn't help you; it didn't make you overcome the supposed madness. Quite the opposite: it cracked you even more, brainwashing you, making you erase the thin line between sanity and insanity, reality and fantasy, good or bad. And nobody actually left. Well, in body bag - yes, but alive, sane and normal - never. At least not since he was here or as he heard - since the building, previously a small manor for some millionaire that died, became a hospital. But hospital wasn't the right word. Oh no, it wasn't and wasn't going to be if the staff didn't change.

Because there were always voices here, when everything was dark and everyone were in their cells, alone and scared, wondering if this was the horrible reality or just a delusion, caused by the medicine. People, usually men, disappeared at least once a month, never to be seen again. And when the good old doctor decided to heal somebody, the result wasn't pretty. Primitive and barbaric methods for healing were something normal here, only here, even if it was the 20th century.

The voices were in his head, even during the day, crying, screaming, telling him stuff he didn't want to hear and nobody could stop this. Or didn't want to, Fran honestly didn't know. He wanted to believe he wasn't insane before he got here, the so-called 'maniacal depression' just being a result of the drugs and the shit that happened every single day and hour and he was normal. But now he wasn't. He was never going to be again, never leaving the rotten and horrible hole.

Fran still remembered small and unconnected fragments of his very first day here. His parents threw him in and we wanted to think that they didn't know what was going on in this poor excuse for mental hospital. The diagnosis was clear - maniacal depression after years of drug abuse. And Doctor Lussuria promised he was going to fix him in no time, just like he always promised to the unsuspecting parents, other relatives, friends or lovers. The fixing was electroshock therapy twice a week, until his brain was completely fried. But the sick barbarian with medical license was somewhat right - the huge need for drugs was absent, just like the reasonable train of thoughts he used to have. Used to. The six different pills weren't helping either - they just made everything even worse and yes, 'even worse' was possible here.

What was he thinking about? Ah, yes, the first day. The only thing that he remembered clearly was the fear when he was on the bed, bound not to move with massive leather straps. But that didn't stop him from screaming for the very first time in his life. Doctor Lussuria just shoved a piece of cloth in his mouth with the words 'Don't worry, honey, it won't hurt. I'll fix you. You're going to be alright again.' said with such calm, fake caring tone that almost made him throw up.

But when one of the orderlies started putting some unfamiliar liquid on his temples, he actually threw up. And when the weird device was ready and in use - more and more throwing up, he almost choked to death from the pure, primal fear. The pain was unbearable when the electricity went through his brain, it felt like his insides were on fire, so he threw up again. The last thing he felt was the sickly warm palm of the Doctor caressing his face, the sweet voice whispering in his ear and everything became black.

When was that? Year? Two? Three? Eternity? Fran didn't remember. Time passed slowly here and he completely lost track of it. Time wasn't something important here, Fran decided, because it didn't matter. He had all the time in the world and there was no way out. At first, he thought there was, when there was still some hope left. He even had a plan to escape. What was the plan? It doesn't matter. After the ninth, tenth or fifteenth therapy session, he completely forgot about it.

So he just stayed here for days, weeks, months and years, with no visits, letters or phone calls. Did his family forgot about him? Probably. Did his friends forgot about him? Probably. Wait, what friends? Did he ever had friends? Answer was no, it's still no. It was hard to find something relatively close to a friend here - the rest were either brainwashed like him, completely insane or pretending to be. Well, pretended to be - after a few meetings with the good Doctor Lussuria, nobody remained sane for long.

At least he had something like entertainment - the other patients were pretty interesting to watch. When the common room was open, he had a few hours just to observe their unreasonable actions. Fran never talked to them, he just didn't know what to say or do to gain their attention so he just stood in one of the corners, watching, trying to think about something that still mattered, even if that was a lost cause.

Most of them were trying to act normal, like being locked in an asylum was something completely normal in life and they accepted it, socializing with each other in strange ways, or dancing to non-existent song or just imitating his actions. The others were few, but enough for the entertainment - insane to the core, screaming, hurting themselves or trying to hurt the orderlies, talking to somebody that existed only in their minds. Fran wasn't frightened - after some time here, he realized Doctor Lussuria was the only one that should frighten him. And there was this small group of pretending to be crazy, including serial and mass murderers who killed a lot people, their family included in that number. They weren't scary too, he just had to avoid them.

Anyways, there was a new fish coming in the next couple of days. Maybe that would change anything, even if the possibility was very low for him. Fran couldn't wait.

* * *

Since they caught him, the huge beetle in his head stopped moving, making him scratch his head and scream. Maybe that was the ultimate goal, maybe he was just insane as the bastards said. Xanxus didn't know. But he couldn't stop thinking that _it wasn't him_. It wasn't his fault. He wasn't the one thinking, he wasn't the one that commanded his body to move. It was that other side of him - a side he discovered when he was seventeen.

And that's when the annoying beetle was born. At first, it just buzzed in his skull, giving him an annoying feeling. After that, it started walking, biting his brain, giving him headaches. It was harmless. Was. At first, Xanxus didn't mind the unwanted bug, because that was explained a lot of things he did. But the buzzing became worse and worse, it happened every single minute when he was awake. It started buzzing and biting in his sleep, making him wake up with thoughts he never thought he was capable of.

It made him scream from pure anger, it made him break everything he saw, it made him hitting and insulting people that simply didn't deserve it. And two months after his 25th birthday, his brain finally cracked under the huge pressure. He found out he had huge black spots in place of memories, weird nightmares about him killing people. The anger multiplied, turning into pure wrath that destroyed everything on its way.

He started finding himself in places he didn't remember going to, destruction all around him, with no memories of his action for the past hours, days or weeks. And there was this quiet whisper that sounded like his voice, telling him that they deserved it. He didn't know who deserved what, but the voice kept telling him that after every blackout he had.

The bastard that called himself 'his father' noticed and tried to talk to him, but that made everything even worse. Because the annoying old man wasn't his father. He never was. For years, he lied and lied and promised the leading post in the company and it turned out fake. Everything was fake. The bastard was fake. And it was his fault. Everything was his fault. The beetle was born thanks to him.

The whisper wasn't a whisper anymore - it was loud and clear, telling him to do what's right. It talked to him every single night, assuring him that everything he did was reasonable, that it was justice. But what did he do? Xanxus didn't know, didn't remember. It didn't matter. The dreams became even clearer; all the details were present, like he was actually awake, like it was all real. But it wasn't. Because he didn't remember.

The blackouts multiplied, taking almost all of his awake moments and one night, when he 'woke up', he found himself in the burning mansion he spent almost his entire life. There were screams, a lot of screams, some only in his head and the others - real. The beetle was biting and biting, making him scratch his head until his nails reached the brain. The voice was laughing. And the bastard called 'father' screamed, flames on his entire body. In some corner deep inside his brain, Xanxus noticed the fire was like a crown on his head, lighting up the entire room.

Everything and everybody burned and the voice kept laughing and laughing, screaming 'THIS IS JUSTICE!' in his head. The fire caught him too - his face, his body, his hair and Xanxus started screaming, just like the voice, but from the pain on his entire body. He didn't know how he survived, but he was the only one. And that was when they caught him.

It turned out that the dreams weren't dreams and he actually did everything - murdering 26 people in total, plus almost everybody in the mansion, including his 'father' and that continued for two years. The diagnosis was clear - the bastards decided he was schizophrenic sociopath with a touch of pyromania.

The date was 15th November 1965, the weather - cold and rainy, the day - Thursday and the actual event - his first day in St. Louis - hospital for the mentally and criminally insane.


	2. I

**A/N: I apologize for the mistakes (yes, I'm 100% sure there are ones), but writing in 3****rd**** POV in English is new and kind of hard for me so probably the explanations are awkward and weird. I want to say that I had to change the age of the characters and make them more… well, suited for the story. If I keep them canon, it's going to be too strange. Anyways, reviews are much appreciated! I DON'T OWN KATEKYO HITMAN REBORN! AND THE GENERAL PLOT OF AMERICAN HORROR STORY: ASYLUM.**

**P.S. I added Tsuna as the other main character, because he'll have a rather big and important role in this, starting with the next chapter.**

* * *

_I: Welcome to St. Louis - hospital for the mentally and criminally insane_

The loud, classical music was making his ears bleed, scratching his brain even more than the beetle. Xanxus found himself searching for the source of the annoying sound without success - the doctor appeared to be busy with another patient, so the orderlies practically doped him with shitload of medicine to 'calm him down' that blurred his mind and made thinking a very hard task to fulfill.

After the man finally gave up the goal to destroy the damn device that produced the damn sound, he realized he was in a big, dark and plain-looking room. Only two small windows, beige-colored walls that had the desperate need for renovation and dirty dark brown carpet that made walking with no shoes a royal pain in the ass. The furniture wasn't enough, but that didn't mean it was anything close to comfortable - two or three beige sofas that, unlike the other items in the room, looked new, but still flat, cheap and uncomfortable, with small coffee tables for each one. Random chairs seemed to be thrown in the room's corners, for the patients that didn't like company. Relatively nice but small TV, a mirror on one of the walls, rather big dollhouse (why, the fuck, was there a dollhouse? There weren't any children.), two or three paintings by some unknown and probably untalented person.

In general, the room had nothing in common with the huge, luxurious mansion Xanxus spent almost his entire life in. But it had disappeared in flames and that wasn't his fault, because he wasn't the one who started the fire. He wasn't, but nobody believed him. Why would he, a reasonable and relatively smart adult, destroy his only home and the income of the money, meaning the so-called father? It didn't make any sense, damn it.

Thinking about something that wasn't nonsense was very hard and tiring, so Xanxus decided to concentrate on his surroundings. An old woman was dancing something that seemed like ballet, not matching the rhythm of the classical piece, circling in the room and not paying attention to anybody else. Some green-haired boy, not older than 18, was sitting in one of the corners with empty and unseeing eyes. Auburn-haired nurse was running around, asking the patients if they needed something. She looked Asian, not the only Asian. Why, the hell, were there so many Asians? It seemed like every damn yellow bastard that laid his feet on Italian ground went crazy.

A deformed creature with an unknown gender was playing with the dollhouse, talking to itself. Weird, snickering laughter was heard from somewhere near. The old dancing woman started singing and the music seemed even more loud and annoying than before. It was weird - wasn't classical music supposed to be calming and relaxing? Not here. Xanxus' knuckles turned white from all the clenching while trying not to bloody murder all of them. Maniacal laughter was heard from somewhere far, far away. Maybe that was the doctor's patient.

What the hell was he doing here with these annoying bastards, in this cheap room with annoying music? It wasn't his place. He was supposed to be the next leader of the family business. His dead father's business. The memory of his head on fire, like some sort of crown, was still clear in his mind, even with all the different pills the annoying orderlies shoved down his throat. The strange thing was that Xanxus didn't feel any kind of regret. The voice of his very own demon was right - everything was justice, but done not by his hands. He didn't remember it, yet the evidence was clear. The white spot in his mind was still there.

The music seemed even louder, the singing and the laughter too, making him see red all over the place. The beetle started buzzing again, scratching his brain with its tiny legs, hitting his skull while flying. The voice was screaming 'WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! DO IT! DO IT!". The bug started biting, giving him a headache, its poison spreading in his whole body. In his fantasy, the whole place was in flames, burning, destruction all around him. He found himself growling like an animal, scratching his head in attempt to tear the flesh and bone with his nails and reach the bug and squeeze until it finally dies.

In the next moment, the Asian nurse was standing next to him, concern all over her face.

"Are you alright, sir?" She said with her overly sweet and caring voice, her hand unintentionally reaching to him. Xanxus grabbed it and twisted it with all of his strength. The fragile bone cracked and he saw blood on his hands, mainly under his nails.

The nurse screamed from the pain, holding to her broken hand like it was her dear life. The bastards in white uniforms were getting closer and closer, not looking at least a little pleased with the situation, and when one of them hit him with something that seemed like a heavy stick, Xanxus went on rampage.

And just like in his fantasy, he started destructing anything on his way, using chairs and tables as weapons against the now five orderlies that were trying to calm him down. When they started touching the burned and aching skin of his face, he scratched their faces, trying to rip their eyes out only with his fingers. The inmates were screaming with pure joy in their voices, Xanxus heard a loud laughing from the room and after a few moments, he realized it was the voice. The beetle in his head went crazy too, giving him even bigger headache, poisoning his mind even more.

Xanxus didn't know how long this continued, but when the orderlies became ten, he felt a sharp pain in the nape of his neck, after that - a needle piercing his arm. Everything became even more blurry, so he closed his eyes and the much wanted and needed bliss in form of a blackout finally came.

The last thing he noticed was the green-haired kid, still in the same spot, not paying any attention to anything and anyone.

* * *

Doctor Lussuria pouted dramatically, trying not to ruin his carefully placed make-up. Really, why were his children so disobedient lately? Take the one on the bed in front of him for example - this troublesome child almost ate his favorite helper's vocal chords. Unfortunately, the poor soul died after the attack. That made Mommy so sad! How could he do this?

"Honey, you disappointed me so much yesterday. It's time for the punishment." The Doctor said, sadness all over his face. His boy didn't appreciate the wonderful act at least a bit. His child tried to bark his teeth, but didn't succeed, thanks to the cloth shoved in his mouth.

Doctor Lussuria smiled, pride filling his entire being, giving him a warm feeling inside his stomach. The treatment was getting even better and better thanks to the late night practice. Yes, sometimes he felt bad about using his dear family for the experiments, but it was for the good of everybody. If he didn't experiment with his skills, creating new ones on the way, was his special treatment going to be this effective in such a short time? No. Everything was justified.

When Squalo joined the family three years ago, Lussuria thought, he was just a ruthless, cold-hearted killer with acting skills good enough to fool almost everybody - he pretended to be insane almost perfectly, but Mama saw the truth. Mama fixed him. His child was acting like a raging maniac at the beginning, but a couple of months ago, he started using his teeth as a weapon for killing people. Good, good. The treatment was the right type. Mama felt proud.

His child tried to bark again and made a strange muffled sound after the complete lack of success.

"Now, now, sweetheart, don't be so mean~" Lussuria ran his finders through the long, silver hair, enjoying its length and kind of unexpected softness. Its owner never really took special care for it and it still looked and felt good. What a mystery. "I didn't want to use this kind of treatment, but you made me. Mommy is sad."

That made his child angry, but the Doctor didn't mind - he was used to this. Squ was always angry and it wasn't anything new here. He smiled again, his hand touching his child's face on purpose. More and more attempts for biting fingers off followed and Doctor Lussuria signed, waving his perfectly manicured hands dramatically. When was his boy going to learn?

He never learned. They never learned. After all the unsuccessful tries to free themselves, the patients still continued trying and trying, like they were going to make any difference at all. But they didn't and it appeared that he was the only one who understood that. Lussuria decided that even if he thought the patients were his very own, twisted family, they still were a bunch of criminals or self-destructing poor souls and their place was right here, in the asylum. They just weren't good enough for the real world and this little one was better for them. But they didn't understand.

How many years was he the main doctor here? Six, maybe seven, since that place opened its doors. He was the first and only. He wasn't a bad doctor at first, oh no, he was always careful, doing everything step by step. No late night experiments, no freedom in his work, just rules and rules and rules, all the rules he learned from high-school, college and medical literature. At the beginning, he just did his job like he was supposed to, because it was his only choice - it was some kind of miracle that the owner of this place hired somebody like him in this century, where homosexuality and neon hair weren't something easily accepted.

_But it wasn't fun. _The huge world of medicine wasn't a place for creativity and soul and that wasn't for him. Yes, Doctor Lussuria was kind of a genius in his own sphere of work, but it remained boring and depressing. For the first year and half, he did everything like any good doctor would, but the realization hit him in the end, just a little bit late - nobody, except him, cared for the patients. Most of them didn't have families or friends, visits weren't allowed and phone calls were something extremely rare. And the Boss just wanted the asylum running and with the minimum of patients.

So Lussuria started something that lately turned into a feared by many routine. At first, he always, always took the pretty ones, polishing his skills on them, doing whatever he wanted. They ended up dead. After that, he just picked whoever he liked, experimenting and trying to create a new, ultimate type of treatment that worked on everybody. Late night experiments, missing pretty boys with missing corpses, suspicious medicine and in only a year, the patients feared him. He asked himself when did his ideals change - wasn't he supposed to help people heal, not help them stay in the asylum until they die? But it didn't matter now, because he was the queen of this tiny kingdom and nobody wanted the post.

The banging on the heavy metal door stopped his thoughts. Didn't everybody know that he wasn't supposed to be interrupted during therapy session with a patient? The green-haired man noticed that his child wasn't so angry anymore, just staring at him with the same cold, dark grey eyes he remembered from three years ago. Not good.

"Yes?" He called with his sweetest voice. Two orderlies in the familiar white uniforms entered the room - one was working here for a year, the other one was new. Poor newbie, he wasn't going to stay for long - his facial expression showed that pretty well.

"Sorry for interrupting your session, Doctor, but the new patient went on rampage when he was in the common room."

Lussuria raised an eyebrow, the new information grabbing his attention. Now that is something interesting, he thought and the regret for not being able to check out his newest son started flowing inside of him. As he heard, the new one had quite the potential. Such a pity he couldn't find the opportunity to pay him a little friendly visit.

"What do you mean with 'rampage', honey?"

"He broke the hand of one of the nurses. It was hard to calm him down."

"Where is he?"

"In cell 27D. We drugged him enough to put him to sleep for a few hours."

"I see." The doctor remained silent for a few moments, thinking, putting the two opportunities on imaginary scale to see which one is better for the moment. "I'll visit him now. That was all, you're free to return to your duties, sweethearts~"

It seemed like that was everything they were waiting for - just for ten or twenty seconds, the two uniformed men disappeared like they were never in the room. Doctor Lussuria just smiled, because that's how things were supposed to be - everybody fearing him, not brave enough to spread rumors outside this tiny kingdom. So he just gave his little boy a caring glance and started walking in direction of the metal door.

"Don't worry, love, I'll return soon. Don't miss me too much~"

And when he left the room, the muffled screams and the sound of metal hitting metal was heard. Such a wild child, he said to himself, and continued walking.


	3. II

__**A/N: Sorry for the very late update (I suck, I know), but I had a major lack of muse for this story. I mean, it's kind of hard for me to write, thanks to my major experience with humor and parody. Writing something serious is uncommon and strange and the fact I smoked four cigarettes when writing this is enough. Anyways, reviews are much appreciated! I DON'T OWN KATEKYO HITMAN REBORN AND AMERICAN HORROR STORY: ASYLUM'S GENERAL PLOT.**

**P.S. If the characters are OOC - please, please share with me. **

* * *

_II: Another new face_

Tsunayoshi Sawada, or Sawada Tsunayoshi in his place of birth, wasn't so sure that he was the right person for the job when he walked in St. Louis - hospital for the mentally and criminally insane. No, this wasn't for him - the sight of the inmates gave him chills. He felt out of place, the sick feeling in his stomach was getting worse and his instincts were telling him to get out as soon as possible. But he tried to ignore them and eventually succeeded, but why didn't that make him feel better at least a little?

Tsunayoshi always wanted to help people since he remembered himself, and maybe that was his mistake. It was weird, everybody said, because he was often considered introverted, awkward and antisocial, even his parents, but he proved them wrong, didn't he? As he found out too many years ago, the dream to become a doctor and save people's lives was distant and impossible - just the sight of blood made him sick - and that's how he got the idea to become a psychiatrist. He was going to help people too, just in a slightly different way.

But it turned out that this job wasn't for him too. The whole place terrified him - the lack of light, the dark colors, the toys, the old and rusty furniture. The look in the patients' eyes was horrible - some of them didn't know what was going on, some of them were scared and some of them just weren't insane enough to be here. But this time, Tsunayoshi Sawada wasn't going to run as the little scared girl everybody said he was - this was his first job, the only job a freshly graduated foreigner could find. Running away from duty wasn't the reason his parents gave their last money for his education.

It was just for a couple of months, two or three, so he wasn't going to give up. A couple of months, a couple of patients and he was going to be safe. Nothing was going to happen. This place wasn't so bad, he tried to convince himself, and the insane and cruel people here weren't scary. Not at all. They were just victims, maybe of their parents, maybe of the shitty life. They needed help, they weren't scary, he continued saying to himself as he entered the common room.

A pretty auburn-haired girl was walking in his direction, smiling all the way, and he found himself stuck and unable to move. She must be a nurse, Tsunayoshi thought, thanks to her choice of clothing. And Asian, just like many of the patients. That seemed weird, but he decided not to think about that.

"Dr. Sawada?" She said with sweet and kind voice. The girl seemed even prettier to him now.

"Y-yes."

"We weren't expecting you today. My name is Kyoko Sasagawa, nice to meet you!"

"N-nice to meet you too."

"Dr. Lussuria is with a patient now, you can wait him in his office. Do you want me to show you where it is?"

Tsunayoshi noticed that one of the patients was staring at her, sad look on his face. Short silver hair, muscular body, maybe a little older than him, also Asian. Maybe they were related in some way? Cousins? Brother and sister? He didn't know, but the idea for exes was idiotic and strange - it didn't seem possible for the staff and the inmates to have any kind of romantic relationship. Actually, it was impossible. He felt stupid for even considering that.

"Yes, that's going to be nice."

The walk to the Doctor's office was awkward and too quiet for Tsunayoshi, but the nurse didn't seem to mind the silence at all. She just continued smiling at every patient or orderly she saw. Tsunayoshi decided her smile was pretty too, just like the rest of her face. Maybe it wasn't too late for a silly high school crush and that was the best description about the butterflies in his stomach, even if he wasn't a high school student anymore. After five minutes of walking, they were finally there and the young man was a little too happy that she didn't notice how he looked at her since they met.

"Well, here we are. I'll go now, Dr. Sawada. If you need anything - you can always find me in the common room. It was nice to meet you!"

"The same." It seemed like a miracle that his voice sounded normal, because that was never normal for him. But he wasn't the fifteen year old with major talking to girls issues anymore; at least he wanted to think that way.

Tsunayoshi stared at the girl's back when she left with a smile. Maybe they were going to be friends. Maybe.

* * *

Doctor Lussuria was the other thing that terrified him. His neon hair, his fake smile, his overly sweet voice, his height. It felt like the man could crush him with only one of the very muscular hands and that gave him chills. He found himself sweating; breathing seemed like a very difficult thing to do at the moment.

"So, tell me, sweetheart, who _exactly_ did hire you?"

"T-the director." His voice cracked a little, the sweat became cold and unpleasant. And the Doctor just kept smiling with this fake and creepy smile.

"Personally?"

"Um… No. There was a job offer and I j-just applied. I received a letter a week after that…"

"There was a job offer, you say. Right, honey?"

"T-that's right."

Doctor Lussuria lighted a cigarette and made himself more comfortable in the big chair. The chair was the only piece of furniture that gave a homely feeling, the rest seemed just like a hospital - the perfectly white walls and ceiling, the marble floor and the metal bookshelves. He didn't want to imagine what his lab looked like. Tsunayoshi noticed the blood stains on the doctor's clothes. His white gloves were bloody before he took them off ten minutes ago.

The creepy man noticed his stare and the smile became even bigger and bigger.

"Ah, this? The patients, especially this one, tend to get a little… wild."

„I s-see..."

The silence that came was unwanted and heavy, Tsunayoshi almost smelled it in the cold air. He couldn't stop thinking about the blood stains. Was that proper treatment? Even if he didn't want to, he had to see the other doctor's workplace.

"Sweetheart, here are the files of your patients. I must say you got the wild ones, dear. I don't envy you." The sweet, almost caring voice took him out of his thoughts. He started sweating again. "Are you alright? You look a little pale."

"N-no, I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

Doctor Lussuria carefully placed some plastic folders in front of him, giving him another creepy and fake smile. Tsunayoshi almost smelled the blood when he got a little closer. This entire thing - the job, the patients, the place, Doctor Lussuria... Everything made him so sick and it was only his first day. He quickly excused himself, because the sick feeling in his stomach was getting bigger and bigger and his mind was still screaming 'GET OUT!'.

When he placed his wet and slippery palm on the door handle, the other doctor's sugar-coated voice was heard again.

"Just one thing, sweetheart~" He looked at him, his hand still on the handle. "I don't care for which patients you will take care, but… Trust me, you don't want to know what's going to happen to you if you mess with _my_ job. Understand?"

Tsunayoshi Sawada slapped a hand over his mouth and ran away, searching for a bathroom.

When the new brat left, Doctor Lussuria found himself furious, which didn't happen often. What the hell just happened? A psychiatrist? A damn _psychiatrist_? Great, that was everything he needed. A new kid to stick his nose in something that's not his business. And the new one looked exactly like the overly curious type. Lussuria grabbed the chair from pure anger and threw it on the floor, the piece of furniture shattering to pieces. He wasn't smiling now, oh no, he just couldn't smile even if he wanted to.

The good thing was that the brat was only hired for a few months and only for a few patients. He personally checked - four of the most brutal serial killers from here were in the list. If he was lucky - well, the boy was going to be eaten alive for lunch or he was going to run away with screams. And if he wasn't… Well, there were always the so-called 'Desperate measures'. Lussuria never used them before, there wasn't any need for that, but there was no other situation like that for all these years.

He always was an excellent actor, even since he was a kid, and he always knew his ways around. Using fake mental disorders was something completely normal here and if the brat turned out annoying - he was going to use them again. And everything was going to be just fine, because nobody really cared.

* * *

Tsunayoshi Sawada, freshly graduated psychiatrist, felt fifteen and pathetic again when he threw up again and again, his entire body trebling from the mixed emotions he had for the job. The only thing that stopped him from running away again was his duty as a doctor. Insane serial killers or not, his first patients deserved help just like everybody else and he was going to try so hard to help them. They were humans, they made mistakes and in their case, it wasn't entirely their fault.

He got up with a lot of effort, still feeling sick and still sweating. Even after he washed his mouth carefully, the aftertaste was terrible, almost making him throw up again. _Duty, you have a duty and this is your job. Man up and don't be a damn pussy_, his inner voice said and he decided to listen to it, because it was reasonable. Just like always.

The way to the common room was hard to find, but he succeeded. The only thing for the day in the schedule was the visit to Doctor Lussuria's office, but checking out the surroundings and the inmates sounded like a good thing to do, so Tsunayoshi didn't leave. When he was finally there, Kyoko Sasagawa flashed him another sweet (and real) smile. He noticed she was trying to talk to a patient, a underage-looking one with a weird green hair. The silver-haired boy from a while ago was still in the same place, still staring at the nurse with a sad expression. He wasn't entirely sure if that was one of his patients, but he decided to give it a try.

Taking one of the available seats, Tsunayoshi smiled. The other one smiled back.

"Hello, I'm Tsunayoshi Sawada, the new doctor. You can call me Doctor Sawada if you like."

"Ryohei Sasagawa. Nice to meet you, Sawada!" He didn't mind the lack of proper addressing, because the ear-to-ear smile was enough. "I saw you talking to my sister early."

Tsunayoshi was sweating again. Sister? He was right about that. But maybe he minded. Maybe Ryohei Sasagawa disliked another males talking to his sister. Maybe he was going to have a bad time.

"I'm s-sorry. I didn't know that you two were siblings... If you mind - you can tell me! I didn't know!"

After a few moments of silence, his companion gave him a weird look and started laughing. Damn, he felt out-of-place again, just like high school. He felt fifteen and awkward again, unable to say anything that made sense, so he just smiled a little.

"Nothing like that, Sawada! Can you talk to her? You know, about me?"

"Why? Did you have a fight?"

"No, nothing like that! At least I don't remember. She took the job because of me, you know, but after our first month here, she just stopped talking to me. Sometimes I saw her crying and when I asked, she didn't even look at me. I'm kind of desperate about that, Sawada! Can you help me?"

"Y-yeah, sure. Did you try talking to her?"

"As I said, she doesn't even look at me. When I call her, she doesn't answer, like I'm not here, you know."

"I see. I'll see what I can do about that, Sasagawa-san."

"Don't be so official! You can call me 'big brother'!"

"But I'm not allowed to!"

They continued talking about nothing in general. Tsunayoshi didn't know what to think about his new-found friend - he wasn't sure if he was sane and here for no reason or a very good actor, but the second opinion didn't seem to fit. That gave him another sick feeling - patients who didn't belong here, screams from Doctor Lussuria's workplace, a mysterious director with even more mysterious money to keep this place still running. Duty or not, Tsunayoshi didn't like the whole business even a little. The idea for another job didn't seem so bad anymore.


End file.
